The Pills Have Been Swallowed. Now what?

Donald Trump spoke to the Press today at The White House. I was able to watch for about 20, maybe 30 seconds.

Forget all the differences you and I may have with Republican voters when it comes to policy. Forget all the deeply-entrenched and contradicting views we have on American values.

All I could I think in that moment…just like in 2016…is simply: “How can anyone look at this person and think he has any business running a Dairy Queen, much less the country?”

To my eyes, he is equal parts mental illness, low IQ, narcissism, ignorance, hate, and pettiness. He is far and away the Worst American I’ve ever seen. He is a moral dwarf, walking the halls meant for Giants.

But he’s just the symptom. 60 million people (more or less) still look at this person and are furious we can’t see what a swell guy he really is. They watched him call CNN reporter Jim Acosta a “terrible person” for doing his job asking questions in a press conference, and deduced that Trump was correct.

Across the entire nation, the pills have been swallowed. Our reality is now completely in opposite form. That’s what Trump has done; it’s no longer gray in between…you either see him as a mortal threat or as a champion.

I am ready to debate and find common ground, and I will change my views on the spot when my information is expanded and my opponent teaches me something. (Hint: that’s what you’re supposed to do).

However, I admit that there is almost no way imaginable I am ever going to change my opinion about this man, and I take it as a source of pride that I know I love my country and understand it’s values far more than him.

But I have to come clean:

To convince me I’m wrong about Donald Trump is going to be just about impossible, because I already think his supporters are dead wrong about almost everything in this world.

I know that’s bad. I know that’s a closed loop. But I could type for days the examples of how wrong they are. Here’s just a taste:

I think they are wrong about climate change. I think they are wrong about net neutrality. I think they are wrong about asbestos, how to care for our water, whether or not fracking is smart, or how it’s okay to take away people’s right to vote. I think they are wrong about NATO, the Iran Deal, and whether or not we should have a fully-staffed State Department. They think 17 separate intelligence agencies are wrong about Russia, and many of them think Hillary Clinton runs child sex-trafficking rings.

Me? I think anyone who spends more than five seconds worrying about the ‘caravan’ is a deeply stupid person, or at least someone who is so scared in their own lives they desperately need an enemy to explain it all. I think they are wrong about who is taking our jobs. I think they are wrong about which party wants government to function, which party is trying to overturn Citizens United, or which party wants unrestricted corporate control in our lives.

The past is not helping their case, either.

They were wrong about George W. Bush…from the very start. They were wrong about Iraq, who caused the financial crisis, how to fix it, how to make it worse, and how to help the Americans affected. They were wrong about Benghazi, Hillary’s emails, and Whitewater. They look up to Vladimir Putin and don’t mind it when Duterte or Jong-Un is praised.

They were wrong about Obama installing himself as dictator, starting a war with Texas, decimating the military, crashing the economy, installing sharia law, or how Obamacare was going to destroy the nation. (Now they won’t let anyone touch it).

And Jesus H. Christ he never came close to taking away your goddamn gun.

Oh…and wow: did you have a hard time accepting he was a United States citizen or what?

In other words, to me, Right Wingers are just wrong too often. How am I supposed to find middle ground with people that are wrong about something ten times before breakfast?

The Oakland Raiders are 1 and 7 right now. Convincing me that what I saw today was actually a decent, intelligent, fit and compassionate person standing at the White House podium would be the equivalent of the Oakland Raiders going undefeated starting now and winning the SuperBowl by a score of 200–0.

Possible…unlikely.

The other side has simply gotten it wrong too many times about too many things.

They listened to Willie Nelson for fifty years and didn’t catch that he was a liberal until two months ago. This is not a sign of astute observation, folks. How am I supposed to believe these people are smarter than me?

They need to improve their record. Bigly.

But instead, last night they lined up for hours to vote for the same politicians that will continue to make their lives worse, smaller, less powerful, less healthy, less everything. And that, more than their membership in the Cult of Trump is the clearest proof that nothing can reach them now. And I guess they can’t reach me.